Had They Ever Bought Him Any Kind Of Toy Gun Analysis

In the story the father asks himself a question: “..And Doug had phoned him. So he couldn’t say: I’ll get your mum (Why did he always say that anyway?)” This question is not just a rhetorical question but more a symbol of his self-reproach. He is mad at himself for not supporting his son enough while he was in war in Afghanistan, perhaps he is disappointed in himself for always having given the phone to his wife and have shown no desire to have a conversation with their son while he was stationed in a warzone.
The question and his lack of desire for conversation with his son indicate that he must have had some issues with his son being a soldier, which the following quote also sustains: “Had they ever bought him any kind of toy gun? If they had, then it could have been another of those signals,
So they must have done. If only they hadn’t. Or if only Dough had been a girl” As this quote shows, it is obvious that the protagonist wishes that their son hadn’t become a soldier, and he seems to blame himself for his son making that career decision anyway.
He is of that opinion that if they just hadn’t bought him a toy gun, then none of this (hence Doug’s death) would have happened. The toy gun becomes a symbol of guilt. The guilt the father feels in relation to the death of his son.
While walking around the supermarket the protagonist sees a woman with some screaming children. The father immediately compare the two children with his son: “…These bawling little bastards, these kids their mums or dads seemed unable to restrain, Doug never having been a noisy, out-of-control child.” Even though he finds the two children annoying, he can’t help but envy the mother: “He looked at the mother’s strained, about to burst face. He thought: She doesn’t know how lucky she is.” The mother and her two children becomes a symbol of what the